"Friendsgiving is exactly what it sounds like: A gathering close to the date of Thanksgiving, starring many of its starchy staples, usually served potluck-style, with friends instead of relatives. Think fewer dinner-table political debates, less travel time, turkey optional (more on that later). "There are your friends, and there's Thanksgiving," says Emily Brewster, a senior editor at Merriam-Webster. "It's a great example of a word that is just an excellent candidate for adoption as soon as someone thought of it.""
"Of course, people have been celebrating Thanksgiving with friends for centuries. The concept of Friendsgiving has long permeated pop culture, from 1973's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (in which an overburdened Snoopy cooks for the gang after they invite themselves over) to Friends, which went on the air in 1994 and included Thanksgiving plotlines in each of its 10 seasons. But the proper noun only came along relatively recently."
Friendsgiving is a gathering near Thanksgiving where friends share starchy staples, often potluck-style, with optional turkey and less family-related stress. The practice has historical precedents, appearing in pop culture from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) to the sitcom Friends (1994–2004). The compound noun emerged later; Merriam-Webster began tracking "Friendsgiving" in 2007 after appearances on early social platforms like Twitter and Usenet. The term's clear meaning and easy pronunciation aided adoption. The phrase gained wider visibility in 2011 through a Bailey's ad campaign and a Real Housewives of New Jersey plotline, triggering annual search increases.
Read at www.npr.org
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